Irish beef is the safest in the world, but the latest BSE scare has affected trade, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.
The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine had included a special item on the agenda to discuss the crisis. Mr Walsh said a BSE-infected carcass was found in a French supermarket, and that had triggered events.
"As a result of the scare there has been a sharp reduction in the eating of red meat, and it has affected trade," he said.
Food markets were susceptible to scares, but the litmus test was how they were dealt with, he said.
Trade had declined and to overcome this the Irish authorities were in touch, through embassies and An Bord Bia, to reassure the major market that Irish beef was the safest in the world. He added that, if anything, Ireland had more controls than anywhere else.
"We have eight million cattle, and 100-odd were infected, and that is minuscule. International bodies said Ireland was optimally stable, which means that we are safe to deal with."
He said a lot of money had been put into updating plants and making sure that there was no cross-contamination from bonemeal.